Category: Cognitive Development

Magical thinking involves the belief that one’s ideas, thoughts, actions, words, or use of symbols can influence the course of events in the material world. Magical thinking presumes a causal link between one’s inner, personal experience and the external physical world. Examples include beliefs that the movement of the sun, moon, and wind or the… Continue reading Magical Thinking

Information processing theories explain how people work with or perform mental operations on information they have received. These operations include all mental activities that involve noticing, taking in, manipulating, storing, combining, or retrieving information. This approach to human development emphasizes the fundamental mental processes involved in attention, perception, memory, decision making, and reasoning. Basically, information… Continue reading Information Processing Theory

Inductive reasoning is the ubiquitous mental activity of using existing knowledge to generate new knowledge that is likely, though not guaranteed, to be true. Inductive reasoning is required whenever people need to fill in gaps in their knowledge with “best guesses” about the state of the world. Generalizing that all snakes are black after encountering… Continue reading Inductive Reasoning

Imaginary thinking occurs when the contents of our thoughts escape the boundaries of the here and now, such as when we reflect on the past or imagine the future. Sometimes the content of imaginary thinking is accurate or realistic, but frequently our thoughts go beyond what is true or likely as we contemplate fictional worlds… Continue reading Imaginary Thinking

Imaginary friends are a charming part of early childhood and beyond. Between one half and two thirds of children create such friends, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some children create imaginary companions that are ordinary playmates with common names. Other companions have unusual qualities, like the ability to fly or magical eyes… Continue reading Imaginary Friend